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A 3D resin printed military tank is cut in half where we can see a bone structure inside it. The bone structure fills the inside space of the tank as if a biological species was inhabiting it.

Future Tank/Bird Dinosaur

Stephanie Morissette

Sculpture

Graduate

A large proportion of funding for synthetic biology research in the United States comes from sources such as hedge funds and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency). It foreshadows that the results and specimens will most likely be owned by the private companies and Military–industrial complex (MIC). Using storytelling techniques borrowed from paleontology and archeology, I imagine what the future would leave behind for those scientists. Today's preoccupations will have a direct influence on the evolution of ecosystems and humanity. By employing a form of speculative paleontology I consider the realm of possibilities left to far off future generations, and how they will be interpreted.

My research approaches conflict relationships between humans, nature elements and technologies looking into the past, present and future. Using a diversity of mediums, I am constantly searching to create movement into my work, either with an evolutive aspect, serial or sequential, with a journey into time, into the physical space of the work or with technology and speed.

With this sculptural work, I am imagining the mutations of synthetic biology research manipulated for military purposes. What if a military tank develops organs, a brain and bones that will allow it agency ? How would it evolve and what would be left of such species in a far future to be found and interpreted by paleontologists?

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